Congrats Gabby

This started out as a warm up sketch and I decide d to try and emulate the style of Miss Vanessa Newton. Of course I come up woefully short!!! She is amazing! But enjoy the image none the less! Congrats to Gabby Douglas!!!

New Promo Image for October Mailer

Here's my latest image done to send out as a mailer to clients and potential clients in October with my group of pals over at Once Upon A Sketch!. I'll be posting some process stuff for it soon. (Psssttt...I did record the process, but managed to erase it in while I was editting it. Sigh. Next time I'll work on a copy, like a sane person!) Ha!

Oh and as always click on image for larger version! :)

Lion and the Mouse Process A

I am in the process of Illustrating a picture book for Benchmark Press based on the Aesop Fable-Lion and the Mouse. I wanted to throw up a quick process image from the book. This will quickly show my transition from rough sketch to final image of a lone character. I'll show more process later about backgrounds, layout and type. But till then here's the Mouse!!!

This was the initial rough sketch.

This is where I really went in and tightened the sketch before going to finals. (BIG difference huh!!)

Here is where I lay in the base colors of the mouse and establish his/her color scheme. I do this by having a second layer beneath the tight sketch. The tight sketch is set to multiply. This allows only the black portions of the sketch to show up when the layers are viewed together.

The final step is the finished painting. I paint this on a layer on top of the tight sketch and base color. If need be, I merge the three layers to create the final file. 

Let me know if you have any questions!! :)

PARTY IN MY TUMMY!!!!!!

I have a new niece in my family and I am finding myself getting familiar with current Children's Programming in the process of her growing up. She loves most kids shows. (She gets enthralled!) Yo Gabba Gabba is one that trips me out anytime it comes on.

This particular song and dance from that show I enjoy a LOT! My sister's re-enactment of it deserves an award as well!! When the bass kicked in I almost lost my mind! I don't know what the folks who created it were on when they did. But I'm kinda glad they were. So far this is my favorite song from the show.

SO YUMMY! SO YUMMY, YUMMY!!!!!

stay true

"You have to go the way your blood beats. If you don't live the only life you have, you won't live some other life, you won't live any life at all."
-James Baldwin

Announcing Once Upon A Sketch

Times are changing and something new and different is needed to break into the industry. Sometimes it's better to work as a group rather than alone.

A. Pool your resources.
B. Cut your costs.
C. Use the collective wisdom of multiple people rather than go it alone.

After seeing other Illustrator Collaborative groups who promote themselves together in marketing plans, I thought it would be a great idea to do this as well. The problem was finding artists that I respected, admired and knew well enough to do this with. I also wanted artists whose styles were different enough that we didn't step on each others toes when it came time to landing job opportunities.

The first person I asked to join was Aja Wells. Aja is a spunky young illustrator with amazingly warm and comforting characters. She is currently in the process of getting her Masters degree from the University of Hartford. I fell in love with her work and had to correspond with her to tell her so! Aja and I built our friendship after she wrote me a scathing e-mail tearing into me for not having my e-mail address prominently featured on my websites. She told me, "I was too good to miss employment opportunities over such a simple error and oversight." She was frank, honest and a firecracker of a personality that I immediately took an appreciation of. She always speaks from her heart and is earnest and dedicated to her craft. Luckily when I asked her to join, she was interested!

The second person was Norman Grock. Norman and I met and corresponded through a group called, Zero 2 Illo. I was immediately impressed by his imagination, characters and skill level. Norman has the rare talent of not only being able to create characters but also being able to build worlds and universes from his imagination. His work explores the young male imaginative fantasy world in a beautiful and fanciful way. After the group was over we continued to speak with one another critiquing our respective work and new pieces. We shared childhood interests and inspirations that made us want to draw. Needless to say of the group we would be the ones to geek out over comic books, fantasy, video games, MegaMan or sci-fi movies! Norman is a hard working, witty,sarcastic and intelligent individual with a heart of gold. Again, the stars were aligned for me when he expressed interest in my project.

The third person to join our group was Edrian Thomidis. We'd met through a number of Illustration critique groups, SCBWI and forums. I was always impressed with her ability to infuse her work with raw emotion and personal experience. Her illustrations focus on the strength and love of family. You can tell the difference between someone who is drawing something they know nothing about and someone who has experienced something physically and emotionally and are able to translate that to paper. Edrian has that magic. Edrian is the multi-talented, intelligent and wisest member of our group. Little did I know how strong a personality and business sense she possessed. She has an amazing talent for looking at the bigger picture and making sure we stay on track with our goals and purpose. She is never without an idea or vision of how to make things better and expand on the technical or non-conventional obstacles we come across that we hadn't expected. It was an honor to have her agree to be a part of this! The group wouldn't be complete without her!

With the core group of artists formed we set forth and named ourselves, the Once Upon A Sketch group and started the process of creating our identity and figuring out how we would market ourselves and to whom.

Our group is unique in that we try to represent as many aspects of the Children's Market as we can. Each of us has interests in various aspects of it and we wanted to use our group and our blog to investigate those aspects and gather resources that have helped us and will help others.

We plan on doing a lot more than just sending out postcards together. We plan on expanding our communities knowledge of the opportunities that exist in the Children's Market beyond Children's books. But I'll talk more about that in part 2 of this article!!! Until then feel free to browse our website and give input! We'd love to hear from you!

-Wilson W, Jr.

New single from Jill Scott feauturing Anthony Hamilton

This is my JAM!!! Love this song and video! Jill looks beautiful, gorgeous, spectacular!! Luv!!!

Wonder Woman debuts on Brave and the Bold tonight!

Cool to see this! Licensing issues seem to plague Wonder Woman not showing up more often in cartoons. Great to see her on here. With the 70's TV show theme and EVERYTHING! HA!

Cover Options

These are a couple of cover options for my next Childrens Book project. (More on that later.)

Wonder if one of these two will be picked? What do you think?
I'll post the final art with title once the decision is made!

Option 2

Option 3

Also, there were three options. The first option was the same as the first with a bar of color at the top and bottom for the type to be placed on top of.

IRA Convention

Part of what we want to do here as a group is expose the vast number of resources that are available to those wishing to break into the Children's Market. There are a number of events and organizations that seek to do this and open up opportunities for not only exposure to the greater intricacies of the community but also great networking opportunities. One such group is the IRA (International Reading Association).

 
Since 1956, IRA has been a nonprofit, global network of individuals and institutions committed to worldwide literacy. More than 70,000 members strong, the Association supports literacy professionals through a wide range of resources, advocacy efforts, volunteerism, and professional development activities. Our members promote high levels of literacy for all by:

* Improving the quality of reading instruction
* Disseminating research and information about reading
* Encouraging the lifetime reading habit

They have annual conventions as well that feature multiple authors/illustrators from the Childrens Educational Market. Please go their site and consider membership and research what they have to offer to you as an author/illustrator within the Children's Market. This year the International Reading Association 56th Annual Convention will be in Orlando, Fl. from May 8-11th. Publishers represented include but are not limited to; Scholastic, Mcgraw Hill, Pearson and Simon and Schuster.

Visit their site for more information about the IRA in general.

Visit this site for more information regarding the convention.

Centipede

Take a little Centipede break and relive your childhood!

Also, delight in the 80's song "Centipede" from eldest Jackson female, Rebbie.
I still have no idea what a centipede has to do with this song. HA!

Happy Easter

HAPPY EASTER!!

Fun In The Sun

Busy with a project. Here's something new in the meantime. An experiment with that brush from an earlier posting. Enjoy! My first e-book will be in this style. "Kiss Kisses!"

EDIT!!!!
I added in some safety devices for the little guy on the advice of an art director. Only makes sense!! Feels better and safer!

Wisdom Wednesday-Will Terry-E-books-2

Here are the two follow up videos from Will Terry where he goes through his setup process and even shows an example of his sales numbers on Barnes and Nobles. Enjoy!





Previous Articles on E-Books:
Amanda Hocking
Will Terry-Video One
Will Terry-Videos Two and Three

First Episode X-Men Anime

Here is Episode One of the New X-Men Anime. They are up to Episode Three and I'm not sure if it will be broadcast in the U.S. While very powerful, Storm is kind of wimpy in later episodes. She fatigues easily. Also, there is some cursing in later episodes. Parents beware.

HALL PASS SKETCHES

Some more Hall Pass-Sketches. Upcoming Project!

Wisdom Wednesday-Will Terry-E-books

I am looking very seriously at passive income sources. As artists we work for every single dollar and after a certain point that is REALLY bad business! We have to find ways to generate income that don't rely on us having to produce artwork for it.

This most commonly happens with Clip Art, Prints, T-Shirts and items of that nature. E-books is a way to generate passive income as well as promote yourself, your artwork and writing. So I am looking into finding great resources online to help fuel my journey!

Will Terry has posted a great video, where he answers a question about whether doing an e-book is worth it! Check it out! He'll be posting another video next week about how it's done!



In the next few weeks, I'll post more resources and articles about the e-book phenomenon.

Previous Articles on E-Books:
Amanda Hocking